Brianda Macedo

Modern Humans Origin

Who are we? Why are we here? Where did we come from? These questions have been

questions no one has been able to truly answer. We have religious theories that many, if not all

of us were taught of at very young ages and we have Modern Human Origin theories that

throughout research has evolved. Growing up I was taught that we were brought to this earth

by god; based off of my religion god, he created us from the earths condiments and from there

the human race began. This theory could be true and that could be said for any other religious

theory. Up until now we do not have concrete evidence of our true origins and that is why we

have our theories. We also have our scientific theories. These theories are taught in schools

that came from many scholars investing their time to find answers to these questions through

archeological and scientific means. The two most popular theories taught in schools are of

where the modern human came from, Regional Continuity and Replacement.

It is said that modern humans first appeared in Africa 100,00 years ago and then

migrating to regions all over the world according to the “Out of Africa” hypothesis according to

Aiello. It’s competing hypothesis is the “Regional Continuity” hypothesis that state modern

humans did not have a single area of origin but arose from their Middle Ancestors across Africa,

Asia, and (for the most part eastern) Europe. Both theories do have one thing in common and

that is that there was a mass departure or migration of people moving out of Africa and having

Africa as a place of origin in the “late lower Pleistocene or early middle Pleistocene period,

resulting in the first appearance of Homo erectus in Eurasia (Aiello, ph. 73)
 According to Chris Stringer a British physical anthropologist “By fossil collection the

evolution of the skull evolved in Africa.” In Northern Africa we have the Jebel Irhound skull that

was discovered and is believed to be from ~300,00 years ago and is the oldest homo sapien

found yet or at least announced to the world. There was also finding of “burnt flint tools; these

tools confirm that the Jebel Irhound people controlled fire.” Being one of the first Homo

Sapiens to use fire and such an advancement is a huge finding since that can help us

hypothesize what the climate was at the time and their potential diet. We have a spread of

other skulls in Africa that are “Ndutu from ~400,000 years ago in Tanzania, Kabwe/Broken Hill,

from ~125,000 years ago considered a H. Heidelbergensis or other archaic species, Florisbad

from ~260,000 years ago in S. Africa, Bodo from ~600,00 years in Ethiopia considered a

H.Sapien, Omo Kibish from ~195,000 also a H.Sapien, Herto from ~160,00 years ago and also a

H.Sapien, Ngaloba from ~120,00 years ago in Tanzania, and the Rising Star, from ~235,000 in S.

Africa.” “CART: The Origins of US- Fossils of Modern Humans Interbreeding witin and outside of

Africa”) There are also tools and jewelry that have been found around the same areas these

skulls were found over thousands of years. With Africa having an abundance of skull as

evidence that our origin could have come from Africa and moved outward seems very plausible.

With such completing evidence that is not found in other places around the world, it

makes me side with the “Out of Africa” theory. As Chris Stringer stated that “there is no

particular area in Africa or center of evolution or “Garden of Eden.”” I agree with this quote

based of of the evidence provided. I believe that there were different parts of Africa that

contributed to what we know call the modern human. Through Movement of population and

Gene flow and the changes of the earth. I think that Pangea is forget sometime and isn’t
mentioned as much as it should. I think that Africa being the center for the most part of Pangea

placed a roll in evolution of what we currently call the Modern Human. I think that if we

consider Pangea we can remember that the contentment’s weren’t in an isolated/ regional.

When the continental drift we became more isolated due to the water separating the

continents. Based of of evidence found that Neaderthals and modern humans did at some point

interbreed lets me believe that we could potentially be hybrids and that we have just evolved

based off of what has been found.

The appearance of bipedalism was first introduced as part of the hominine evolution as

well as larger brains. The concept of bipedalism and larger brains is what makes us humans. In

Quadrepedal locomotion we have features such as long pelvis; forms capable of considerable

arm swinging, suspensory locomotion with small brains compared to Hominids. Those with

Bipedal locomotion between 4-20 mya have shorted pelvis; some differences from later

hominins, showing smaller body size and long arms relative to their legs, and with brains larger

than Miocene forms but not moderately encephalized. Bipedal- Modern Homo Sapiens with

shortened pelvis’s, larger body size, short fingers and toes, with greatly increased brain size and

highly encephalized.

The concept of race is that of the human race where we all are from the same genus. In

modern day this has changed; race if define by your color of skin or from which country you are

from. Some Ethical concerns to race would be racisms and how some races feel better than

others.
 Works Cited:

Aiello, Leslie C. “The Fossil Evidence for Modern Human Origins in Africa: A revised View.”

American Anthripologist. Wiley. Mar. 1993. Vol. 95. No. 1 P 73.96. print

University of California Television, F.M. UCTV. 2013, 06 18. “CART: The Origins of US- Fossils of

Modern Humans Interbreeding witin and outside of Africa”. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdP-Wjd1qSY

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